1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a cooling water heat exchange-evaporated water recovery panel assembly (Hereinafter, referred to as “heat exchange-condensation panel assembly”), capable of reducing a plume generated in a cooling tower and recovering a water from the evaporated water vapor. In particular, the present invention relates to a heat exchange-condensation panel assembly provided with a saturated air flow passage, a cooling water flow passage and a condensing air flow passage for improving the plume abatement and water recovery efficiency.
Further, the present invention relates to a cooling water distribution device which sprays the hot cooling water onto the top of above mentioned heat exchange-condensation panel assembly to increase the plume abatement performance and to remove the heat from the cooling water.
2. Discussion of Related Arts
In general, the water is used for cooling the heat which is generated in various processes of industrial plants. The water vapor evaporated during removing the heats with the direct air-water contact is discharged to the atmosphere through a cooling tower thereby wasting a large amount of water resources.
The heat removed from the cooling water is transferred to the air induced into the cooling tower. Thus, the temperature of air discharged from the cooling tower is higher than one of ambient air and the state of air is near to the saturation which contains more water than the water content of ambient air. When air in this state is discharged into the atmosphere at a relatively low temperature, the temperature of air is lowered below to the dew point during being mixed with the cold ambient air. The water vapor exceeding the maximum content of water vapor at a dew point is changed to the water droplet like white smoke. It consists of pure water droplets and is not harmful. However, it looks as an air pollutant discharged through a chimney of plant. Nevertheless, it causes inconvenience due to the fall of water droplets to the surrounding ground of the cooling tower or the water droplet fallen onto the ground is frozen in the winter season and can cause human injury.
As a result, there have been efforts for recovering a water vapor and reducing the plume formation by using a condenser on a discharging passage of an air containing water vapor.
In an apparatus for abating the plume formation disclosed in Korean Patent No. 1,200,330, a condenser is provided in such a manner that a plurality of moisture air flow passages through which the air containing water vapor (hereinafter, referred to as “moisture air”) passes and a plurality of condensing air flow passages through which the atmospheric air (condensing air) passes are arranged alternatively and adjacently in a vertical flow direction of the moisture air and a flow direction of the condensing air (see FIG. 3 in Korean Patent No. 1,200,330). In the condenser as described above, the heat of high temperature-humidity air passing through the moisture air flow passage is transferred to the air passing through the condensing air flow passage through wall surfaces of the respective panel assemblies constituting the condenser and thus the moisture air is cooled by the condensing air to condense the water vapor contained in the moisture air.
The air passing through the condensing air flow passage is not evenly flowing onto the surface of condenser assembly and is usually upward to them due to the strong suction force of a fan. Therefore, a dead zone where a heat is not transferred sufficiently may be formed at a lower region of the respective condensing air flow passages.
In order to solve the above drawbacks, in Korean Patent No. 1,204,758, as shown in FIG. 1, a condenser 10 is provided in such a manner that the conduits 4 constituting a plurality of condensing air flow passages 3, each of which is partitioned, are arranged in parallel on the respective panel assemblies 1, 2 so that a heat exchange area between the moisture air and the condensing air is increased. Further, a flow direction of the condensing air introduced from outside is biased upwardly due to suction force of the fan 35 while it passes through the inside of the condenser 10 and thus a region (dead zone) where the heat is not exchanged sufficiently is not formed at a lower part of the condenser, and further heat exchange through the whole condenser 10 is accelerated equally so that the water vapor passing through the moisture air flow passage 5 is condensed efficiently.
However, in the conventional cooling tower, the entire amount of cooling water is cooled only through the filler and thus it causes much evaporation of the cooling water, and even though an eliminator is arranged over a cooling water distribution means in order to eliminate fine water drops discharged into the atmosphere, there is a limitation to reduce fine water drops discharged into the atmosphere thereby causing an unsatisfactory plume abatement and insufficient evaporated water recovery.
Furthermore, in the conventional cooling tower, the moisture air that passes through the moisture air flow passage is biased to an edge of a fan stack (“B” region in FIG. 2) due to suction force of the fan 35 and thus the moisture air is not mixed completely with the atmospheric air that passes through the condensing air flow passage and is discharged to an upper and middle part of the cooling tower 30 (“A” region in FIG. 2) thereby not abating the plume efficiently.
In addition, since an injection angle of the cooling water sprayed from injection nozzles 42 of the cooling water distribution arranged in upper parts of heat exchange-condensation panel assemblies 100, 120 (a cooling water flow passage panel assembly 120 is only shown in FIG. 14) is limited to a predetermined angle, a dead zone where the cooling water is not sprayed is formed between the injection nozzles 42 and thus heat exchange efficiency is reduced between the cooling water and the condensing air (the atmospheric air) and between the cooling water and the moisture air in the heat exchange-condensation panel assemblies. In this case, even though it is possible to minimize the area of the dead zone by narrowing the space between the injection nozzles 42 and installing additional injection nozzles 42 to the cooling water distribution means, it is not practical and would increase cost and cause complexity of a device due to the increment of the number of the injection nozzles 42 to be installed.